The District Education Office of the Belize Rural South under the direction of the Ministry of Education held its annual Festival of Arts on Thursday May 24th. The festival is held yearly encouraging, “art is expression, art is education; let’s keep it alive”. The festival was hosted at the Angel Nuñez Auditorium at the San Pedro High School Grounds and saw the participation of seven education institutions on the island.
The participating institutions were; San Pedro Roman Catholic School (SPRCS), San Pedro Dance Academy (SPDA), Isla Bonita Elementary School (IBES), Ambergris Caye Elementary School (ACES), Holy Cross Anglican School (HCAS), Saint Peter’s Elementary School (SPES) and New Horizon SDA School (NHSDA).
Three judges were charged with the very important and difficult task of judging the competition. Mr. Alvin Ledlon, who is Assistant to the National Coordinator for Expressive Arts in the Ministry of Education, Youth & Sports, is also a drama and creative writing teacher. Ledlon is a published writer of stories and poems and a student at the University of Belize with several years of experience as an adjudicator of the festival of arts both at the district and national levels. Also serving as a judge was Ms. Sherette Periott. A dancer and choreographer with the Belize Dance Company, Periott has represented Belize internationally and has served as an adjudicator of the festival of arts for several years both at the district and at the national level. The third judge for the event was Mr. Kevin Campbell, a band master in the Belize Defense Force who has been playing music since the age of seven. Campbell studied music in England, plays and teaches instruments and vocals. He too has been an adjudicator of the festival of arts for many years both at the district and at the national level.
Performances included skits, poetry, vocal solos, dances and pantomime. There was a total of 22 performances scheduled to be showcased, however a total of 19 presentations were made by the various schools to earn them either gold or silver statuses. Three of the performances were disqualified due to their vulgarity and age inappropriateness. There were seven gold performances and twelve silver performances coming out of the night of presentations.
Gold status winners were:
- “I Love You” by the SPDA
- Vocal Solo of “Airplane Medley mash up Megan Fox” done by Martha Alicia Vasquez of IBES
- “Something to dance for by TTYLXOX” a dance by IBES
- A Merengue dance by SPDA
- A pantomime of the “Prince of Egypt” by NHSDA School
- “La Danza de los Viejitos”, a dance performance by the Std.3 class of the SPRCS
- “Beautiful by Christina Aguilera”, done by Elina Palma, Std. 6 student of SPRCS
Receiving silver status for their performances were:
- “La Botella” dance by Std.1 class of SPRCS
- “Wepa by Gloria Estefan”, a dance by Stds. 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 of ACES
- “Where the Wild Things Are”, a Skit by HCAS
- “Wepa by Gloria Estefan” performed by the Infant 1 class of SPRCS
- “What’s going on from Charli Beaumont” performed by the Infant 1 class of SPES
- A dance presentation to the “Wild Gilbert” song by the lower division of HCAS
- “Mysteries of the Sea” a poem recited by Jeniessa Sierra SPRCS Std.5 student
- “The May Pole” dance by the Infant 2 class of SPRCS
- “On the Floor” a dance performed by Yari Flores of ACES
- “Battle of the Machetes” a dance by the Std.2 class of SPRCS
- “Who se Creole nu hav no Culture by Lela Vernon” a dance performed by the Stds.2 & 3 class of HCAS
- “El Cheje” a (marimba) and “Che Che” (Mitchelle Taylor) done by the Std. 4 class of SPRCS
From across the Belize District, ten gold performances were selected to perform on Wednesday, May 30th at the Bliss Institute for Performing Arts in the National Festival of Arts competition. The event is scheduled to commence at 10AM. From San Pedro NHSDA “Prince of Egypt” pantomime presentation and “La Danza de los Viejitos” by the Std.3 class of the SPRCS will move on to compete in the nationals. The San Pedro Sun congratulates all the students that participated in this cultural experience.
